Today I decided:

I would get a dog.

It’s been six months

since we said good-bye

to the two that ran us

on short leashes through

the dizzy years of rearing

our biological pups.

they walked us at heel

into the days beyond degrees

when all of our muzzles grayed,

and we slowed as they did

until they asked that we

keep going without them.

Perhaps from afar they urged

me to hurry to the place where

the shelter dogs were being shown.

They may have persuaded that sweet

young mutt to climb into my arms and

kiss my cheeks, pushing my face from left

to right so that I saw the woman begging

for help with an orphaned kitten she couldn’t

afford to feed.

I understood the command and

accepted the change in plan.

© Dana Hughes 12.2.17